


Striker's in Danger!

by Airwing



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-22
Updated: 2014-01-22
Packaged: 2018-01-09 14:54:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1147314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Airwing/pseuds/Airwing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chuck Hansen is ready for round two with Raleigh Becket, but when he gets to Raleigh's room, he has a slight change of heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Striker's in Danger!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SublimeDiscordance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SublimeDiscordance/gifts).



>   
> __  
> 
> 
> _Author’s Notes: I swore up and down I was not going to write Pacific Rim fan fiction. I swore that Glee and Final Fantasy were it. I swore nothing else was gonna make its way into my mind and come out in story form. I was wrong. Ragnarok45/SublimeDiscordance, this is for you, because reasons. Oh, and by the end of the story you should be able to see the joke in the title of the story. ;)_  
> 
> 
> **Beta Credit:** SublimeDiscordance

**Shatterdome, Hong Kong**

Marshall Stacker Pentecost stood before the entire crew of the Shatterdome, making a speech. Normally Chuck Hansen would be glued to every word, anxiously awaiting some form of praise, but he knew this time there would be none for him. No, only for Raleigh Becket and Mako Mori. 

Instead, Chuck’s mind wandered, not hearing his father’s gratitude toward Raleigh and Mako, not hearing Pentecost drone on about losses and victories that happened tonight. It annoyed him that there was so little fanfare for the pilots of Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon. Other than his father and himself, they had been the best pilots around. Well, the only pilots around. But that was because they were the best, surviving until they were only two of the four remaining jaeger teams. 

Chuck felt pangs of guilt, an emotion he disliked as much as humility. Sure, he had followed orders by staying put when he and his father had wanted to help Typhoon and Alpha, but it was only when Cherno Alpha had been hit with acid that Herc mentally agreed with him to disobey orders and run to assist. While they were able to put a major hurt on Otachi, the unexpected attack from Leatherback had divided their forces, leaving Cherno to fend for itself. If only they had come to the aid of their Russian comrades sooner, the heavy-duty war machine and it’s rock solid pilots might still be alive. 

The Marshall finished his speech, Chuck only picking up on the final orders—for the technicians to have Striker Eureka and Gipsy Danger battle ready within a few hours, and the two remaining jaegers would finish what was left of Operation Pitfall. 

Raleigh managed to catch Chuck’s empty gaze, the latter forcing a partial smile of appreciation. No matter how much Chuck hated Raleigh, he had no choice but to be grateful for Gipsy Danger’s welcome appearance as Leatherback was about to attack the pilots atop Striker Eureka.

Was it really hate that Chuck felt toward Raleigh? Or was it something else? Jealousy? Resentment? He wasn’t sure what there was to be jealous of. Raleigh was a washed up has been who only came back because Pentecost needed a pilot and Becket would need little training on his old jaeger. It was more like resentment. What made Raleigh Becket so damn special? Why was he allowed to come back after five years of abandoning his post with the PPDC? Would Chuck himself have been sought after the same way had the tables been turned?

“Get some rest,” Herc Hansen said, grunting lightly as one of the technicians passed by him and nudged his injured arm. “You’re gonna need to be on your best game for this mission. It’s…”

“One way, I know,” Chuck said, feigning confidence. Inside, the knowledge that this was most likely a one-way mission made him sick to his stomach. Granted, while it was a fact of life that every battle against a Kaiju might result in death and defeat, this was too much of a sure thing. He wasn’t coming back. He was going to leave behind his father and his pet pooch, the only two things he had left in his life. 

Herc said something else, but his son wasn’t paying attention. He nodded and walked away, his father heading in the opposite direction, toward Pentecost’s quarters. As he turned toward the barracks, he caught Raleigh’s eye. The other pilot looked like he wanted to say something, but Chuck quickly brushed past him, preferring to avoid any one-on-one conversation with the older man. 

After laying on his bed for twenty minutes with no sign of sleep creeping on, Chuck sighed and sat up. He stood and walked to the adjoining bathroom and, upon reaching the sink, paused to stare at himself in the mirror. He had taken off his shirt when he laid down to sleep, and now he was able to see the injuries he had suffered recently.

The Australian’s shoulder was bruised, most likely from the fight he and Raleigh had in the hall earlier. There were a few thin scratches on his right pectoral from his drive suit. He wasn’t sure how he had been cut, but the plating on the suit had done that a couple of times before. It was the way the plates were layered. It was the bruising that bothered him. Kaiju battle scars he could shrug off, but the bruise was symbolic to his pride. Raleigh had beaten him and most likely would have continued to own him had his father not intervened. 

Raleigh owned him. He damaged his pride. Chuck felt his fist tighten at the thought of Mako Mori and several technicians watching on as Raleigh, the washed-up has-been, beat his ass, slamming him into the wall, the floor, and leaving a small cut on his cheek from a well placed punch. 

Before I go off to my death, I’m gonna get that fucker back. I’m gonna show him that nobody makes an ass of Chuck Hansen.

Feeling a renewed sense of resolve, Chuck returned to his bunk and pulled on his olive-green t-shirt and his hat, throwing his arms into his bomber jacket before leaving his quarters.

Becket’s room wasn’t far from his own. Nobody was in the hall, surprisingly. They must have all been busy working overtime on the jaegers. All the better. He didn’t need an audience for this. He paused in front of Raleigh’s door, took a deep breath, and knocked.

Chuck stood there, feeling foolish, for at least half a minute before Becket answered the door. The older man stood in the frame, a look of surprise and tiredness on his features. Obviously he had not expected to be woken up by Chuck Hansen at his door.

“What can I do for you, Chuck?” Becket asked coolly. The man could have easily, and rightly, taken the lower road and given the younger ranger a very cocky greeting, however he was calm and relaxed.

“Can I come in Becket?” the Australian asked. “Want to talk to you.”

Raleigh shrugged and stood aside, letting the younger ranger into his room, shutting the door behind him. 

Chuck stood in an awkward silence as Becket walked toward the small kitchenette in the domicile. All it had was a mini-fridge, a sink, and a microwave, but it was enough for any ranger. Chuck couldn’t help but notice how Raleigh constantly walked with a certain swagger. The motion was clearly not born out of arrogance, but more the underlying, modest confidence.

“Want a drink?” Raleigh offered him, pulling a small bottle of alcohol from the mini-fridge. “I know we gotta have clear heads and all for this mission, but a swig or two might take the …edge off, the blond grinned wryly. “I won’t tell if you won’t.”

“What you got there?” Chuck asked with a nod. Raleigh held up the bottle, a generic beer. He popped the cap and handed it to the younger ranger before pulling another one from the fridge. 

Chuck took a short swig, stalling. He had come here prepared to give Raleigh a good cussing out and a beating, but standing here alone with the man, a man who was showing him even the slightest of hospitality, it seemed suddenly wrong. 

“What’s on your mind? You said you wanted to talk, right?” Raleigh asked, taking a gulp of his beer. “Something up?”

“I uh… I just wanted to uh… I wanted to thank you. For back there. Bailing me and my old man out,” Hansen said clumsily. 

Raleigh smiled warmly. “Your dad said you’d never admit it, but looks like he was wrong about you. You’re welcome.” As he took another drink, he let his eyes rove over the Australian. He seemed different. He seemed almost nervous, and definitely not as cocky as usual. “You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Just you know, I’m not real good at this kind of thing,” Chuck replied, avoiding the other man’s gaze by tossing back his neck and chugging his drink. 

“You mean showing appreciation?” Becket replied. He smirked at the other man before asking the question he really wanted an answer to more than anything else from Chuck. “So what do you have against me? Since I got here you’ve been an ass to me and I don’t know why. What gives?”

Hansen steeled himself, trying to come up with an answer. The truth was, he had no real response. Okay, well maybe a little bit of a reply, but not much of one. “This mission is important. The most important one we’ll ever do. I didn’t know you. All I knew was that you left the PPDC five years ago and suddenly Pentecost wants you back. I guess I didn’t have a lot of faith in you, and like I said, I want to come back from this mission.”

“Thanks for the confession. I mean that. Too bad now it won’t matter how much trust you got in me, none of us are gonna come back from this mission. Most likely not, anyway.” Raleigh glanced up at Chuck, but refused to look him directly in the eyes to avoid seeing the fear and sadness he knew had to be there. He was feeling it himself and no matter how much of a tough hard-ass Chuck appeared to be, even he had to be afraid.

“We’ll see. Probably not. I guess that’s why I wanted to…” Beat your ass? “Bury the hatchet as they say. Shake hands like mates and all that.” Chuck felt like an idiot, confessing himself all over the place. What happened to the beat down? Why couldn’t he bring himself to just take a swing and catch the bastard off guard and slug him?

Without a word, Raleigh stuck out his hand. “Alright then. Mates,” he said with a nod. Chuck hesitated only a moment before shaking the other man’s hand.

“Yeah. Mates.”

Chuck sat the beer down on the edge of the counter and turned to leave. He stopped himself before he reached the door, however. 

“Somethin’ else on your mind?” Becket asked.

Chuck couldn’t believe what his body was doing, what his mouth was saying, but the words came out. Perhaps it was easier since he wasn’t facing the man when he said them. “Yeah, mate. I got another confession to make.”

Raleigh furrowed his brow, suddenly very curious. “What’s that?”

Hansen turned, closed the distance between them, and threw his arms around the older ranger in a tight hug. “I came here to fight, but I can’t do it. I came to fight but now…”

“Now… what? Why don’t you want to fight anymore? Never thought you were one to turn down a good opportunity to prove how good you are, so what’s changed in the last few minutes?”

“When we were fighting before, when I was… being an asshole to you even before that… I was getting these surges of… feelings. At the time I just assumed it was jealously or anger. But the more I think about it, the less and less likely that seems, even to me,” Chuck explained. He felt stupid saying all of this, especially when they were going to be dying during the mission. These confessions wouldn’t change anything.

Raleigh eyed him with bewilderment, completely lost on where this was going. “So what is it then?”

“This…” Chuck said, his body taking over as his hand traced down Raleigh’s back and around to his front, the younger man cupping Raleigh’s crotch.

Raleigh backed away, putting his hands up in front of him. “Whoa there man, I don’t swing that way.”

“Come on, mate. You gotta admit, there’s been something more than just hostility here. It’s tension. Sexual tension. It’s so thick you could cut it with a sting-blade,” Chuck said, finally saying words that he had never spoken even to himself, despite knowing that deep down those feelings were there.

“So what if there is? I’m still not—“

Raleigh’s words were cut off and his mouth was suddenly assaulted by the younger ranger’s own mouth. Chuck kissed him hungrily, desperately, roughly. His hands slid up Raleigh’s sides, gliding over the dark blue sweater. 

“Doesn’t matter if you are or you aren’t,” Chuck finally said, pulling back. “The tension’s still there, and we need to do something about it.”

“So you went from wanting to fight to wanting to fuck? Is that it?” Raleigh asked, sounding cocky for the first time. 

Chuck grinned. “Yeah, that’s about it. A little release of tension among friends.”

Becket shook his head and chuckled. “Man, you got a weird idea of foreplay. You know I ain’t gonna make this easy, right? You want me, you gotta take me.”

“I’m not rapin’ you mate. You either want to or you don’t, but I’m not so much of an asshole to rape somebody,” Chuck asserted, offended.

“That’s not what I meant,” Raleigh assured him. “I just meant if we’re gonna do this, it isn’t gonna be some making love business from a fairy tale. It’s gonna be some good, rough fucking. This ain’t no love story, Chuck. You know it, I know it. You wanted a fight, so let’s have one. Just a different kind of fight if you know what I mean.” He had a mischievous grin on his face, telling Chuck everything he needed to know.

Chuck leaned back in to kiss Raleigh, but instead of the desperation, he kissed him aggressively, dominating the action, massaging the other man’s tongue, sucking on Raleigh’s bottom lip until it was swollen and sore. 

Raleigh moaned softly into the younger ranger’s mouth, not realizing exactly how much he missed this intimate contact with another person. It had been years since he had coupled up with someone—since his brother’s death in fact. His guilt and depression over Yancy refused to allow him to move forward but now? Now his body was relaxing, all thoughts of guilt, his brother, and of the impending danger coming up moving aside for nothing but lust.

The older ranger snapped out of his trance as he felt his sweater being roughly yanked over his head and tossed aside. He had been embarrassed of the electrical scars on his chest for the longest time, but had gotten over it. Keeping his gaze on Chuck as the other man shucked off his own shirt, seeing his own scars, he felt a sense of pride. Battle scars.

Chuck’s chest was firm and broad, a thin layer of ginger hair covering his skin, his pink nipples already erect with arousal, just like his aching cock still captive in his pants.

Raleigh on the other hand was more toned, his chest smooth except for the tiny trail of hair that disappeared into the waistband of his cargo pants. Chuck was kissing him again, pinching his darker nipples, bringing them to attention.

Feeling Chuck’s hardon inside of his pants, Raleigh broke the kiss and shoved the Australian onto the bed, pinning him down on his back. Chuck tried to get up, but Raleigh pushed him back down, his hands firmly on the younger man’s chest. 

“Those bruises… Kaiju?” Raleigh asked, his eyes roving over his mate’s arm. 

“No. You. You beat my ass, remember, _Rah_ leigh?” Chuck put a childish emphasis on ‘Raleigh’ the same way he had in the mess hall, poking fun at the veteran ranger.

“Yeah, I remember. Not much of a challenge. I barely broke a sweat. I hope you do better this time,” the dark blond teased, a cocky grin on his face. “So far you’re not exactly impressing me.”

Never one to back down from a challenge, Chuck summoned up his strength and finally managed to shove Raleigh off of him and onto his ass. The perfect position. The Australian stood and quickly unzipped his pants, whipping out his thick, uncut cock. 

“Looks like the tables are turning. Wrap your lips around it mate,” Chuck taunted. “Go on, open that mouth and taste it.”

Reluctantly and with a harsh glare, Raleigh leaned forward, still on his rear, his face only inches from the dripping dick. “I’ve never done this before…”

“No time like the present to give it a shot. The girls love to choke on it. I bet you will too. Stop stalling, _Rah_ leigh.” Again he drew out the name, knowing it would get a response from the older man.

“Fuck it,” Raleigh said, opening his jaw and taking the meaty organ into his mouth, tasting dick for the first time. Not only tasting it, but actually enjoying the salty flavor of pre-cum. He hadn’t expected that, but it encouraged him and allowed him to forget their sparring for just a moment and wrap his lips tight, slightly sucking.

“That’s it, ranger. Like a good boy.”

Raleigh rolled his eyes at the comment but continued to suck. He bobbed his head back and forth slowly, running his tongue across the shaft, teasing the foreskin as it slid up and down. 

Chuck moaned loudly, almost too loud. Raleigh prayed the walls were thick enough to mask the sound, but if not, if someone heard, it was too late to cover it up now.

Chuck reached down with massaged Raleigh’s throat with his hand, and then pushed down on the man’s head, forcing his cock down Raleigh’s gullet. Raleigh started to choke at the unexpected movement.

“Come on, take it like a good boy. If the bitches can do it, so can you. Breathe through your nose and let your throat do the work,” the Aussie instructed, still massaging the American’s throat with his fingertips.

Raleigh complied, sucking in deep breaths through his nose and making swallowing motions with his throat, massaging the invading cock. He could feel pre-cum and spit draining down his throat, sending shocks down to his crotch, forcing his own cock to throb. He absently reached to the growing bulge between his legs and began to rub.

“Looks like you’re liking that quite a bit there,” Chuck teased, noticing his comrade’s hand working over the material of his pants. “Go on then, whip it out for me,” he added, the side of his mouth turning up in a grin as Raleigh gazed upward, their eyes meeting.

The elder ranger let Chuck’s cock pop out of his mouth and stood up. He fumbled with the button on his cargo pants, but Chuck slapped his hands away.

“Let me do it,” the Aussie said with a brief nod. His fingers worked much faster, slipping the metal clasp undone with ease. Instead of pulling the blond’s pants down, he simply shoved his hand right beneath Raleigh’s boxer-briefs, taking a big handful of American cock. 

Raleigh gasped at the sudden sensation of Chuck’s hand on him. As the younger ranger played with his underwear-clad dick, the pair’s lips met again, tongues intertwining and battling each other. 

Chuck got down on his knees, taking Raleigh’s pants with him, the ranger’s thick cock straining within Chuck’s grip. The redhead stuck out his tongue and teased the swollen head, tickling the slit and then sealing his lips over the corona. 

“I should have known, all you Americans cuttin’ off your bits,” Chuck chided, referring to the older man’s circumcision. “Dick still tastes nice and sweet though.” Without further ado, he held the throbbing cock in place and in one graceful movement, lowered his head down as far as he could go, taking Raleigh’s cock to the hilt. 

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Raleigh exclaimed, his knees feeling ready to give out as the sensations in his groin drove him wild. He could feel Chuck’s throating tightening as the younger man stifled a giggle at his reaction. 

Chuck’s oral ministrations finished all too quickly, the man standing up again and reaching down, grabbing Raleigh by the balls, forcing the older man to grunt in pain.

“What gives man?” the blond demanded, trying to gently pry Chuck’s vice-like grip from around his sack. 

“This is a fight, remember mate?” Chuck asserted. He kept his grip tight and with his other hand, pulled back a fist and socked the blond in the side of the face. “I owed you that one, right?” He released his grip and shoved Raleigh onto the bed facedown. Raleigh wasn’t sure which hurt more – has face, or his nuts. 

Chuck took advantage of Raleigh’s momentary confusion to kick off his combat boots, pants, and boxers. He stood behind Raleigh, completely naked, his dick still slick from pre-cum and saliva.

Raleigh rolled onto his side, one hand on his groin and the other on his cheek. “Cheap shot!” he hissed. 

The Australian smirked, standing over his quarry. “Don’t get your panties in a wad, Raaaaaleigh,” he said, using his signature Raleigh-taunt. “You know I owed you that,” he added, pointing to the small cut just below his own eye, across his cheekbone. “Now we’re even on that.”

“Don’t worry, we’re not done yet. We wanted to get off, we’re gonna get off. Real good, too,” Chuck announced. He leaned down and shoved Raleigh back onto his stomach and then roughly pulled the man back by the hips, holding Raleigh’s feet in place with his own, forcing the older man’s ass into the air. 

“Aww come on, I don’t think I can handle that!” Raleigh protested half-heartedly. “I never had anything-“

The ranger’s words were cut off as a spit slickened finger roved around his quivering pucker, strong hands spreading his smooth cheeks. “Hey!” he objected, but Chuck wasn’t listening. Instead, Chuck pushed gently inside until he was knuckle deep into Raleigh’s hole.

“Holy shit!” the blond grunted. 

“You like that eh?” Chuck laughed. “You’ll like this too, then,” he added, pulling his finger back and then plunging forward again, eliciting another deep gasp from his partner.

“Don’t stop…” the blond breathed in. “That feels…”

“Amazin’ right? Try this,” Chuck said, wiggling his finger slightly, brushing up against the walnut of Raleigh’s prostate. 

Raleigh had to shove his face into the bed sheets to keep from being heard as he moaned in pleasure. Chuck repeated the action a couple more times, the elder ranger not realizing a second finger had been slipped inside. 

“I got two in there, mate, let’s try for three,” Chuck said, spitting down his partner’s crack, the saliva sliding down to moisten the loosening muscle again. With a little coaxing, Chuck managed to get a third finger inside.

The blond moaned again, biting his lip to try and stifle himself, unsuccessfully. 

“I think you can take me now, don’t you think?” the redhead inquired. “Yeah, I think you can.”

Not waiting for a reply, Chuck positioned himself so his rock hard cock was pointed right at Raleigh’s loosened ass. He spit again, slid back his foreskin, and pushed with the head of his cock until it popped right inside the wet muscle.

Raleigh’s fists clenched the sheets, Chuck’s dick feeling much bigger than three fingers. The constant pressure as the thick intruder pushed its way inside of him was different than the fingers. 

“Don’t clench mate, it’ll just hurt more,” Chuck said. “Just relax and open up for your friend here,” he added. He knew he could have gone a little slower, especially on a man who had obviously never been penetrated before, but Chuck still had a little bit of fire inside of him that was being sated right then. 

Chuck kept pushing until his dick was all the way in, his ginger-colored pubes pressing against the American’s ass cheeks. “There now, it’s in all the way. I’m gonna let you think about that a second while I give you a little attention.”

Raleigh felt his cock being touched by rough fingers again, the tip of a thumb plying his slit, spreading around the pre-cum. He didn’t protest when Chuck’s hand stroked him up and down, agonizingly slowly. 

“Take over,” the Aussie said, taking his hand away and getting a firmer grip on the blond’s hips. Without further hesitation, Raleigh gripped his hard-on and stroked, faster than Chuck had. “Watch it, mate, don’t cum too soon.”

“Don’t worry about it, I got this,” Raleigh replied sarcastically. 

“Good, cuz I got this,” Chuck said, pulling back a couple inches and then thrusting back in. He smiled as Raleigh groaned, both in pleasure and pain, feeling the hole tighten a moment around him. “I said don’t clench!”

Raleigh growled into the bed, Chuck pulling out further and driving back in. He could have sworn Chuck’s cock got longer and fatter with every thrust as it seemed to fill him more and more.

“Alright, I’m not taking it easy on you anymore. This is a fight. A fuck. And now, we’re gonna fuck,” the redhead declared. Holding on tight to Raleigh’s hips, he sped up his thrusts, pulling out several inches before slamming right back in to the hilt. 

The American cried into the bedding again and again, pain quickly giving way to pleasure. He continued to stroke himself, aroused all the more by the feeling of Chuck’s hairy nuts slapping against his taint. 

“This is amazing. Better than any pussy I ever had,” Chuck complimented with a laugh. “I should have tried to fuck your ass sooner than this.”

“We had to fight first, remember?” Raleigh reminded him before moaning again. 

In response, Chuck slammed into him extra-hard, starting a renewed assault on the blond’s prostate. “I’m getting close,” Chuck said breathily “But in the meantime…”

The bed creaked loudly as ranger fucked ranger, both men sweating profusely, grunting and panting. 

“I’m gonna cum, mate!” Chuck said, speeding up painfully fast, his hips bucking wildly into Raleigh’s asshole. 

“Me too!” Raleigh said, stroking himself fast enough to keep up with the attack on his hole. 

The room echoed with manly growls as both of them came at the same time. Chuck kept his cock buried inside of the older ranger, filling his insides with hot seed. Raleigh shot an equally full load onto the bed sheets.

Chuck collapsed onto Raleigh’s back, his cock slowly deflating and slipping from the tightening pucker. Cum dripped out of the abused hole and along Raleigh’s taint, disappearing into the blond hair of his nuts. 

“Get off me, man,” Raleigh said, panting. “You’re heavy.”

Chuck laughed and rolled sideways, flopping onto his back next to his partner. Raleigh rolled as well, onto his back, sticky cum all over his abs. 

Chuck ran his fingertip across Raleigh’s stomach, swirling through the cum. He gathered some up and brought it to his lips, tasting it. “Not bad.”

“So now what?” Raleigh inquired as the two of them lay there. “We aren’t cuddling so what do we do now? Clean up and call it a day?”

Chuck sat up on his elbows. “Yeah, I guess so. I got my hit, we got the tension out between us. This is over, right?”

The blond stood up, woozy. He padded to the adjoining bathroom and started the shower. “We clean up first. We need some rest before the mission, too.”

Chuck sighed quietly, not wanting to be heard over the sounds of running water. For some reason he felt… disappointed. He hadn’t expected anything to come of this, but somehow getting down and dirty with his fellow ranger felt him with a sense of desire. Another kind of desire that wasn’t sexual. Emotional. Was he falling for Raleigh, just from a bout of rough sex?

Raleigh finished up his shower and dried off, then pulled on clean clothes. He nodded toward the shower, giving Chuck the invite. Chuck got up and headed to the shower silently, stepping in before turning on the water. The steam quickly filled the room. He closed his eyes and tried to push the conflicting thoughts out of his head.

After drying off, Chuck walked into the room, nude. He found his clothes neatly folded, sitting on the end of the bed, which had been stripped of the soiled sheets and fitted with new ones. Just how long had he been in that shower anyway?

Saying nothing, Chuck dressed and then sat on the edge of the bed so he could pull on his combat boots. Raleigh plopped down next to him. 

“I’m glad we worked this out. You know, got the air cleared, became… friends,” Raleigh hesitated before saying the last word. “I wish you weren’t gonna die on this mission. I think we could have been good friends.”

“We’re mates, friends. It’s more important we got that figured out before I go off to die, yeah? I’m glad we made up. I’m glad we did this,” Chuck replied, standing up. 

“See you on deck in a few hours,” Raleigh said with a solemn tone. 

Chuck nodded, not turning around. He opened the door and stepped out, satisfied to see nobody was out there. A part of him was thankful that he was going out on this mission—he wouldn’t have to deal with these conflicting emotions. But what about the Drift? Someone was going to see all this whether he liked it or not. Mako was going to see it when she Drifted with Raleigh. There was no hiding this. Not really. Yeah, it was better to—

“Hey!” Raleigh shouted down the hall, hanging halfway out of his door frame. Chuck turned to see what he wanted. “How about we have our last meal with your dad? Just us, and Mako. A team, you know?”

“Yeah, sounds good. Mate,” Chuck replied, all thoughts of relief leaving him. Would it be so bad to survive and come back to figure this out? With the Kaiju gone, he’d never have to Drift again and maybe, just maybe, he could figure out where to go from here, with or without the company of his new friend.

Chuck rubbed his temples, a headache forming and intensifying. He hadn’t paid attention to most of Pentecost’s speech, and now they were all dismissed to their respective duties. He felt a strong hand on his shoulder, squeezing tight.

“Get some rest,” Herc Hansen said, grunting lightly as one of the technicians passed by him and nudged his injured arm. “You’re gonna need to be on your best game for this mission. It’s…”

“One way, I know,” Chuck said, feigning confidence. His headache was growing, and it surely wasn’t helped by the incredibly unexpected fantasy he had while standing in line with the others. A fantasy about Raleigh, someone he… hated? Yeah, he hated Raleigh, right? Then why the fantasy.

“And son, you might wanna cover up a bit,” Herc added with a chuckle. His son looked down, realizing his erection was noticeable in his pants. Herc walked off laughing, leaving his son to further ponder just why he had this fantasy, why he was so fucking hard, and how brave was he to act on it?

Swallowing his fear and hesitation, he shouted the name. “Becket!” Raleigh turned around, expecting to hear a smart-ass comment. Instead, Chuck was jogging up to him.

“What do you want, Hansen? I’m not interested in trading more punches with you,” Raleigh said coldly.

Chuck looked past the veteran ranger’s face, fearing losing his nerve if he looked Raleigh right in the eye. “I just want to talk, mate. No punches. Can we go to your room, so we can chat in private?”

Raleigh shrugged. “Sure. This better not be some bullshit though.”

“It’s not. I promise. I’m done with that. I just want to talk,” the Aussie assured him. I want to talk, and I want to have a go with you, and I don’t mean with my fist, he thought. 

“Gotcha. Let’s go. I want to get some rest. You should, too,” the blond said. With that, he turned and swaggered down the hall, Chuck following closely behind him. Chuck was already picturing in his mind what he wanted to do, but would Raleigh go for it? One way to find out…


End file.
